Bayou Dreaming (Butterfly Bayou 3)

Armie chuckled. “I never worried about you wanting my extreme wealth. You were always after my manly body.”

“It is pretty nice,” Lila admitted.

Armie winked his wife’s way before turning back to Roxie. “Don’t worry about a thing. It was all smooth sailing at Dixie’s this morning. Your dad asked a bunch of questions about how I run the department. He’s never worked for a small town before so he’s curious about the difference in how we handle things. And don’t worry. I totally lied about Zep. I said he was an upstanding citizen and scholar.”

He frowned Armie’s way, but Roxie put a hand on his arm as though lending him her support.

“I’m sorry if my dad bugged you, Sheriff,” she said. “And Sylvie, I assure you they won’t be at all interested in city hall. They’ll be out of here Saturday and my life can go back to mostly normal.”

The mostly part gave him hope. Also, the fact that she was treating him with some affection in front of people who were important to her job was a good sign that he might get the time he needed with her.

“He didn’t bother me at all,” Armie replied. “I assure you I’m going to want to meet all of Noelle’s friends and coworkers when she heads off to the community college. I intend to drive her back and forth.”

“I thought Noelle was applying to UT Austin,” Sylvie said.

Lila sighed and shook her head. “Don’t listen to him. She’s already been accepted into UT Austin’s bio chem program. He’s in complete denial. It’s okay since he’s going to soon turn all his paternal paranoia the new baby’s way. I pray this child is a boy.”

Armie reached out and held his wife’s hand. “And I want another girl to spoil, but we’ll be happy with either.”

Lila’s eyes softened and she squeezed his hand. “We will. But this is another reason why we have to get this town to chill out about werewolves. And bunnies. I got a call asking about the rougarou and if it’s possible to spread lycanthropy through the rougarou eating carrots and then bunnies eating the carrots. There’s someone out there who is worried we’re about to have rabid bunnies. Or maybe the bunny was the rougarou. I don’t know. I think it was Herve’s girlfriend, and she was a little drunk. She called the hotline to ask that question.”

“My office is getting those calls, too,” Sylvie said. “I think the only thing we can do is the one thing I don’t want to do.”

Armie’s brows rose. “I don’t think we should do that. I . . . we don’t need that.”

Oh, but it would be so fun. “I think we do.”

“What are we talking about?” Roxie asked.

“The best entertainment in the whole world,” he replied. “Town hall meeting. Open to the public. Dixie has a popcorn machine she sets up outside of town hall. She makes a killing off of it.”

“I’m glad you think it’s going to be fun, Zep,” Armie said, sitting back.

Suddenly he realized every eye was on him. It was disconcerting because they all had that “we know something you don’t” look in their eyes. “What?”

“You’re the expert.” Sylvie actually looked sympathetic. “So you’re running that part of the meeting. You’ll be giving everyone updates.”

His stomach dropped. “What?”

Armie’s face split in a wide grin. “Yeah, that makes it all worthwhile. That look right there. It’s been a good day.”

“You’re mean,” Lila said, but she was smiling, too.

“So everyone in town is going to view Zep as the expert, and they’ll all call him.” Roxie seemed to understand the horror of the situation. “Which means they will all call me if they can’t find him because they will probably figure out that we’re real dating instead of fake dating.”

“Now, hey, baby, I will answer my phone. I promise.” He wasn’t giving her an easy out.

“I knew it.” Lila held out a hand. “Pay up, Madam Mayor.”

Sylvie rolled her eyes but fished a five out of her purse. “I’m glad I went stingy on that bet. She wanted me to put twenty on the line, but I thought her insider tips might be better than mine. Sera can be oblivious.”

“Remy is not, and my sister likes to gossip as much as she likes to breathe.” Lila took her five. “And of course they were going to come out of this together.”

“Uhm, I mean we’re . . .” Roxie seemed to fumble.

She wasn’t a woman used to being the center of attention.

“What she’s saying is we’re not really dating. But we’re going to try to be more polite to each other at the end of this.” He was used to smoothing things over and making less of what should be more. “We’re friends. That’s all. You should give Sylvie back her five.”